The Best Investment on Earth is Earth

Purchasing a property doesn’t end with you paying for it, for there are some additional recurring costs that you will incur on this front. These are mostly taxes that are needed to be paid to the government. Chennai has recently witnessed tremendous growth in multiple sectors, and more and more people are investing in the city’s real estate. Chennai is also considered one of the safest cities in India, wherein one can live in peace compared to other metros. The boom in the IT sector has further augmented the development of Chennai. Although Chennai is one of the hot spots of the nation when it comes to real estate investment, it still has an easy system of calculation and payment of property tax. As someone who is going to purchase property in Chennai, you should have the basic knowledge and understanding of how property tax works in Chennai, from different ways to calculate property tax to the right way to calculate tax online for AY 2019-20.

What is Property Tax?

Property tax can be described as the amount a property owner has to pay to the local government authority. The property could be commercial, residential or land. The law makes it mandatory for every property owner in the country to pay property tax, unless there is a law exempting them under special cases. Failure to pay the property tax will lead to imposition on the property owner and can even result in property confiscation in the worst case scenario.

Property tax helps the local authorities to maintain various civic facilities like the maintenance of roads, sewer systems, maintenance of street lights, garbage collection, etc. Many people confuse the concept of property tax with that of income tax and other services taxes that are paid to the government. While income tax is paid to central government and service tax to both central and state governments, property tax is collected by the local government authority.

How to Assess the Property's Value?

In order to pay the property tax, it is important for you to assess the property’s value and the amount of tax you should be paying. If you want to get your property assessed by the Corporation of Chennai, there is an assessment portal available in the Chennai Corporation website. You will need to sign up and furnish all the details such as the name of the assesse, details of the property, zonal division, etc. for an accurate assessment.

How to Calculate Property Tax?

You can calculate property tax online for AY 2019-20 using the calculator available on various websites or through the one available at the Greater Chennai Corporation website. The Greater Chennai Corporation websites takes in several factors to calculate the property tax. These factors include built-up area, age of the building, nature of the property i.e. residential or commercial, occupancy nature, area value of the property, etc. to arrive at the amount you need to pay as property tax in Chennai.

In order to calculate the annual rental value of property, the Greater Chennai Corporation uses the Reasonable Letting Value (RLV) system. This value obtained helps in calculating the half-yearly property tax payable.

How to Pay Property Tax?

To ensure that property tax in Chennai is paid without any hassles, the Greater Chennai Corporation allows not only for calculation of tax online for AY 2019-20 but also for the payment of property tax. The city has been divided into 15 zones. You need to find out the zone and division under which your property falls. You will then be required to enter the details of the property and pay the property tax. Just make sure that you download the e-receipt for future use.